Last evening, after work, I wanted to go out on my bicycle. Only to find I had a flat tyre!
As you can see it was completely deflated. I used the bicycle only yesterday, so I suspect it must have happened very close to home as I never noticed the tire going soft.
I mentioned before that I hardly ever have a flat tire these days, but as the saying goes, spoken too soon.
So put my bicycle into its repair stand. My Alfa Spider happens to be out, so plenty of room
Popped the rear wheel out. First thing is to carefully inspect the outside of they tire for any signs of trouble/puncture. Could not find a thing!
So out comes the inner tube, see my earlier posts on the details, pretty straightforward. Make sure you keep the orientation of the inner tube and the wheel / outer tube correct.
I checked the inside of the outer tire carefully, but could not find a thing. Next I put a bit of air in the inner tube and I located the puncture quickly. A tiny, tiny, tiny puncture!
With the puncture found, I put the inner tube on top of the wheel / outer tube.
This allows me to find the area on the outer tube where something must have punctured through! Sure enough, I found a very small thorn. It was absolutely tiny. I had missed it on my first inspection. That is why it helps to check it again once you have found the puncture on the inner tube.
I could not feel it protruding through the inside of the outer tube. It must have broken off.
I decided to use my fancy new repair kit. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical. I have tried new ones before, only to revert back to the old trusted way of glue/plaster.
It worked really well. Just a bit of sandpapering around the area of the puncture, peel back the backing of the little plaster and stick it on. That is all!
Quite impressed with it, actually. I hope it lasts!
Putting the outer tube back on the rim, can be a bit of a bear. This is what usually happens
The last bit is always a problem. I try not to use a tire lever as you are likely to damage the inner tube. What I do is; I go around the whole wheel/rim pinching the outer tube. By pinching it you move it to the middle of the rim, which gives a bit of overall play and you can just pop the last bit of it on the rim easily!
Back in business, cycling wise!